Method of flooring manufacture



Nov. 9, 1965 J, NEW 3,216,469

METHOD OF FLOORING MANUFACTURE Filed Sept. 20. 1961 INVENTOR J se xii/159w,

ATTORNEY6 United States Patent Ofiice 3,216,469 Patented Nov. 9, 1965 3,216,469 METHOD OF FLOORING MANUFACTURE Jesse A. New, Miami, Fla. '(R.F.D. 1, Nicholson, Ga.) Filed Sept. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 139,451 4 Claims. (Cl. 144-326) This invention relates to ornamental flooring, and in particular to skilled woodworking known as parquetry. In this art, tiles of wood are arranged in a mosaic in which the motif is achieved by contrasts and blends in such features as size, shape, color or grain, or combinations of these features. In this art, the most striking effects are obtained by grain effects, but grain variations are infinite in variety, and therefore grain patterns do not lend themselves to the demands of quantity production. This is due, in part to the fact that the job requires craftsmanship, and judicious selection, from a limited supply of tiles, for each individual piece of work, and because of the necessarily large amount of scrap.

I have found that a highly satisfactory form of parquetry, involving grain structure which is reproducible in quantity, and without special planning, by using tiles characterized by a surface which exhibits the growth rings of a tree, endwise. Not only does this provide a pattern which is reproducible in quantity, and easily segregated into distinct, identical sets of components, but leads to a method of manufacturing the tiles which is distinctly more facile and economical than methods heretofore employed.

It is therefore a general object of the invention to provide a form of tile for parquetry which is capable of production in quantity for assembly of a plurality of substantially identical end products.

A further object is to facilitate, and to lower the cost of both manufacture of the tile, and assembly thereof.

Another feature of the use of growth rings arranged transversely of the surface of a tile, is the improved resistance to lateral penetration by vermin, and, therefore, another object of the invention is to improve the resistance of tiled, wooden structures to action of vermin.

These and other ends, which will be apparent, are attained by the present invention, which may be briefly described, from the standpoint of method, as comprising a manufacture wherein a tree is sawed into slabs of the desired tile thickness, and the slabs cut, or diced, in a stamping action into a plurality of tiles, symmetrically arranged with respect to the center, or axis, of the tree. From the article standpoint this results in a series of tiles of varying pattern of growth rings for any given slab, which may be reassembled, in contrasting relation, in a mosaic.

For a more detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the following specification, as illustrated in the drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a circular saw, and a log positioned adjacent said saw for cutting slabs from the log in planes transverse to the axis thereof;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one of the slabs, cut as in FIGURE 1, positioned beneath a dicing knife;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of a slab after dicing, showing identifying numbers applied to the cut tiles;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of two forms of tile, other than square, assembled to form a border panel of a main, central mosaic;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4, showing an alternative form of tile, in a border assembly; and

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view of one corner of an assembled mosaic, with a border according to the scheme of FIGURE 5, and central, square tiles, of the type shown in the cut slab of FIGURE 3.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, there is shown a log 10, of substantially uniform diameter throughout, shown positioned horizontally, in cooperative relation to a circular saw 12, which may be swingmounted, or slide-mounted, in which case the log will be firmly secured in place. Either the log will be mounted for feed-indexing along a line parallel to the axis of the saw, or the latter may be mounted for such movement. In any event, the saw will cut perpendicularly to the axis of the log, to separate it into a series of circular slabs 14, and the extent of indexing movement will be such as to provide the proper thickness of slabs 14, which may be the same as a standard inch flooring board.

The separated slabs are next subjected to the dicing operation, in which a tool 16 is forced down onto a face of, and through, the slab 14. For the cutting action, tool 16, the head of which is a circular disc, carries a depending, waflle-like gridwork of reticulated shearing knives, one set of which, each indicated by the numeral 18, are equally spaced and arranged in parallelism, along chordal lines of the circle of disc 16, the other set, each indicated by the numeral 20, being also parallel and equally spaced, and arranged at right angles to knives 18. The knives have sharp lower edges for separating the slab into tiles, and for improved shearing action, the sharpened edges have serrations 22.

The slab 14 is positioned below the knife 16, in concentric relation thereto, and the knife caused to descend, penetrating the slab, and separating it into squares 24, of identical size, but of varying pattern with respect to the segments of growth rings 26 contained within the individual squares.

As seen in FIGURE 3, a variety of patterns in the cut tiles is provided. While these may be classified in groups of tiles of identical pattern, and also into double groups which are of identical pattern except that the pattern in one group is the mirror image of the pattern in the other, such a fineness of subdivision of patterns will not be necessary, and the tiles may be considered as comprising two, main patterns, one in which the growth rings appear generally diagonally in the tile, and one in which they are roughly perpendicular to two opposite sides of the tile.

Thus, in FIGURE 3, the four tiles indicated by the numeral 3, adjacent the center tile of the slab, are identical, but in order to avoid too great a monotony in design, other blocks, such as indicated by the numeral 1, along the column and row, respectively, which are aligned with the center of the slab, may be considered equivalent in pattern to tiles 3, and this will provide the desired randomness, while retaining the general distinctive character of this component of the design. Similarly, all of the tiles indicated by the numeral 2, may be employed as the second of two basic patterns, namely the diagonal grain. These pattern components are designated by the appropriate numeral in the layout shown in FIGURE 6.

At increasing radial distances from the center of the slab, certain of the columns and rows will partake more of the grain character of tiles 1 than tiles 2. These, which have been indicated by the numeral 5, may be classed with tiles 1, or may form a separate group.

In FIGURE 4 is shown an assembly of modified tiles 28, 30, having straight edges 32, 34, repectively, and complementary, serrated edges which meet in a saw-tooth interface 36. The tool for cutting these tiles will have a series of straight, parallel knives to sever the slab along the lines 32, 34, with an intermediate knife between each pair of straight knives, having a blade of serrated profile, as viewed perpendicularly to the tool disc, such as disc 16 in FIGURE 2. The assembled tiles, in FIGURE 4, result in a design unit which is rectangular and oblong in outline, and comprises the two components 28 and 30, which contrast both as to their complementary serrations, and their oppositely arranged grain patterns. The components 28, 30, will, of course, be selected from different regions within each of a series of main classes.

of the slab, and the particular assembly shown has components from radially equidistant and opposite parts of the slab.

In FIGURE 5 is shown a tile assembly 37 generally similar to that of FIGURE 4, but in which the staggered interface 38; is undulatory, or scalloped, along a wavy line having semi-circular crests and troughs. This assembly may be employed as a border to a main, central panel, as shown in FIGURE 6, but the scheme of FIGURES 4 and 5 may be also be employed in a main or central design pattern.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a novel tile unit for parquetry, which not only furnishes an ample supply of duplicate, individual tile patterns for quantity production, but also provides a pattern of enhanced appearance and appeal. Other effects may be achieved by cutting the slabs at an acute angle to the log axis, as well as an appreciable variety of grain pattern In addition, by providing a tile in which the walls of the growth rings are arranged perpendicularly to the tile face, a greatly increased resistance to wear is attained, and burrowing of vermin is discouraged. In addition to these several pronounced advantages, the novel tile is inherently related to a method of manufacture which is much more rapid and economical than heretofore employed methods, based on a working stock obtained by conventional timber sawing, and involving subsequent subdivision by further sawing, and which do not provide repeating patterns in quantity. In fact, in the present method it is not even necessary to remove the bark from the log at any stage, and waste and scrap are almost entirely avoided.

While a certain preferred embodiment has been shown and described, modifications will be apparent, in the light-of this disclosure, and the invention should not, therefore, be deemed as limited, except insofar as shall appear from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making tile units for parquetry which comprises separating a circular slab, with parallel faces,

from a log, along a plane perpendicular to the log axis, applying a plurality of knife edges, simultaneously, in a reticulated pattern to one face of said slab, and separating said slab into a plurality of square tiles by shearing action of said knife edges.

2. The method of claim 1, said reticulated lines defining a pattern of squares with a center square having its center substantially coinciding with the center of the slab.

3. The method of claim 1, said reticulated lines defining a pattern symmetric about the center of the slab.

4. The method of making tile units for parquetry which comprises separating a slab with parallel faces from a log, along a plane perpendicular to the log axis, applying a plurality of knife edges, simultaneously, to one face of said slab, in a reticulated pattern symmetric about the center of said slab, and separating said slab into a plurality of square tiles by shearing action of said knife edges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 64,037 4/67 Rowe 144196 75,558 3/69 Macduff 144196 191,167 5/77 Mueller 3572 220,893 5 79 Westcott 2075 451,834 5/91 March 144-326 508,221 11/93 Hill 144-193 586,795 7/97 Jones 4123 802,673 10/05 York 144323 2,062,590 12/36 Lundquist 4123 2,812,790 11/57 Stuart 144323 FOREIGN PATENTS 890,044 10/43 France. 882,581 3/43 France. 523,855 4/55 Italy.

85,257 10/20 Switzerland.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

JACOB H. STEINBERG, WILLIAM W. DYER, JR.,

Examiners. 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING TILE UNITS FOR PARQUETY WHICH COMPRISES SEPARATING A CIRCULAR SLAB, WITH PARALLEL FACES, FROM A LOG, ALONG A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE LOG AXIS, APPLYING A PLURALITY OF KNIFE EDGES, SIMULTANEOUSLY, IN A RETICULATED PATTERN TO ONE FACE OF SAID SLAB, AND SEPARATING SAID SLAB INTO A PLURALITY OF SQUARE TILTES BY SHEARING ACTION OF SAID KNIFE EDGES. 